Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Lord is Faithful to bring back to mindthose things that He had oncerevealed to me and taught me before.The Faithful reminder has come along, again,as thoughts of raising our children for Christhave been consuming my mind.The Lord brought to mind recently something I wrotea few years ago and I went back and re-read it this weekend.It was a blessing to me and I wanted to share it, again.

Are We Raising Daniels?{{Repost... originally written Sunday, April 2, 2006}}This morning in ourBible lesson, we read about thecaptivity of Judahto the Babylonians. We discussed whythey weretakeninto captivity, what it must havebeen like, etc... We mostly focused onDaniel (Belteshazzar), Hananiah (Shadrach),Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah(Abed-nego).

I know that I have heard this story a numerous amount of times, but the Lord has a wonderful way of reminding us and teaching us simple, yet profound truths when we are in His Word... whether we've read it hundreds of times or if we've read it for the first time...

All through our lesson, there were thoughts going through my mind....

~ Daniel and his friends were taken from their homes, their families, their familiar surroundings... all that they knew..... as CHILDREN!

~ Daniel and his friends had great courage to stand up for righteousness in the midst of an unrighteous world.

~ Daniel and his friends withstood the strong, ungodly influence that surrounded them as children, young men, and as adults.These facts fascinated me...

How they were ripped from their homesand godly teachings as children,yet, even as children, were SO convicted and convincedthat they were willing to do what they knew was right,without heeding to the persuassion and influence of,probably, everyone else they knew.

And as they grew,they remained unfalteringly faithfulto the One, True God....without shame... without question... without hesitance.

They lived in the ungodly culture and influenceof the Babylonians and, yet, they remained untaintedby the wickedness they lived in.

Those truths got me thinking...To have such strong, bold, and unapolegetic virtue and moral courage.... as CHILDREN and then as men...Where did they learn that from? Where were they taught it? Their parents?? Then the Lord laid some questions on my heart....

Am I doing all I canto truly teach and train my children in HIS ways, to serve and love HIMwith all their heart, body, soul, and mind?

If they were somehow taken from me as young children, would they have what is needed to stay faithful to the One, True God, despite strong opposition and influence?

If they are never taken, and simply remain in my care... will they still have the moral courage to take a stand in and for righteousness in an unrighteous and wicked world?

Am I faithfully praying that what I am teaching themwill surpass head knowledgeand that the LORD will teach them,using His Word to change their hearts?

Am I doing ALL I can?

Am I consistently FAITHFUL in doing what I can?

Am I raising more Daniels for HIM?Gulp.....It's a scary, yet blessed thing when the Lord puts me in a place of self-examination and re-evaluation. When I am brought face to face with the comparisson of what I HAVE been doing, AM doing, SHOULD be doing and CAN be doing. I praise the Lord that He speaks to me in a still, small voice through His Holy Word. It is my constant prayer that I will always have a teachable spirit and humble heart. And I pray that He will enable me to do all I CAN do in the raising, training, and discipling of my precious, precious children that He has entrusted me with.I pray that I will raise more 'Daniels' for HIMand that my children will grow to be...

"... like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." ~ Psalm 1:3and "... be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river,and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green;and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." ~ Jeremiah 17:8And "That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:" ~ Psalm 144:12May I be..."... stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord..." knowing"...that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." ~ 1 Corinthians 15:58

I started to say I just happened across this post, but I know that that isn't true...God led me straight to it because I needed to read it today. Excellently written and so very convicting. God has been leading me recently to re-evaluate what we are actually *doing* in our home and homeschool in light of our original goals. It is so easy to get very off-track if we aren't very careful. Thank you for posting this...I would love to link to it from my blog in an upcoming blog post, with your permission.

I've been away from my blog for a bit...but wanted to say thank you so much for your sweet comment and permission to share. I will do so soon! Btw...I love your Carolynne's name! I have always loved that name and your spelling is different and very feminine.

Jennifer ~ You are very welcome. ;o)Thank you for being willing to share it. I hope it is a blessing.Thank you regarding Carolynne's name. She has her great-grandma's first name except we added the 'ne' at the end. We thought it looked nice and it, also, gave her 9 letters in her name like the rest of us girls. ;o) So it worked out very well.

What a wonderful devotional - thank you for sharing your thoughts - may I chime in with a BIG AMEN. Yes, just to think that those in the Bible account were mere children when they were taken -- I pray that we will never be tested the same, but as the world is waxing worse & worse, it's not so far from a real possibility. May God find us faithful.

This has always been a favorite Bible story of mine - perhaps because I remember as a child my daddy tossing me into bed at bedtime, swinging me saying, "(swing) Shadrach, (swing) Meshach, (swing & toss me into bed while saying) and A Bed We Go."

Thank you for this post. I needed this kick in the pants. We have slacked off on our Bible study (gotten busy doing and going). This is not good and not where I want to be. I have a few adjustments to make immediately.

Big hugs. I am thankful that the Lord is using your blog post to remind me to get back on track.

Thank you for this wonderful post. It is a wonderful challenge. God kept bringing your post to mind this week (along with a burden He's placed on my heart to focus on equipping my children, as opposed to simply educating them). He's used your post to open my mind to the idea that things may not continue status quo - difficult times may be ahead. However, I know that He's preparing the next generation. How wonderful that He's placed us in this particular time and blessed us with these wonderful children and the opportunity to truly train them. I hope you don't mind, but I mentioned your post and linked to it on my blog. (If you'd rather me not, please let me know and I'll remove it.)Thanks again.In His love,Tina